Occulta Dama

Occulta Dama is a Senior Lecturer in Animation at Manchester Metropolitan University, affiliated with the School of Digital Arts. Her research focuses on animation as activism, exploring the intersection of popular imagination, affect, and creative practice. Since 2021, she has been conducting PhD research investigating how animated practices can disrupt insect representation in media amid the insect decline crisis. She previously served as a Programme Leader and Senior Lecturer on the Animation BA at De Montfort University and has over a decade of professional experience as an animator and special effects artist for horror films, animation studios, and AAA games.

• Education: PhD candidate at Manchester Metropolitan University (since 2021)

Research interests include psychoanalytical film theory, cinema experience, ideology, and liminal spaces. She has presented her work at the Society of Animation Studies annual conferences (2022, 2023) and the Indiana University Annual Interdisciplinary Conference (2023). Currently, she contributes to the Baltic Horror collection via the University of Wales, focusing on undead/partial objects in horror.